Latest / Bible Chat Devotional / May 17 - The Grace of Reconciliation

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May 17 - The Grace of Reconciliation · Bible Chat Devotional

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  Welcome to Bible Chat, where we have devotional conversations
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  rooted in scripture and relevant for.
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  Today, May 17th, life made for a purpose.
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  There are moments when life just feels random, like things happen
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  to you without reason, without order, without anyone really
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  steering the ship. A friendship ends out of
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  nowhere, a plan falls apart. You work hard and it doesn't
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  seem to make a difference. And in those moments, it's
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  tempting to wonder, does any of this actually mean anything?
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  Does my life have a point? Proverbs chapter 16, verse 4
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  speaks into that exact question. The Lord has made everything for
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  its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.
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  That's a striking verse because it doesn't just say the good
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  things have purpose. It says everything does, even
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  the difficult things, even the things that don't make sense to
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  you right now. God is not improvising.
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  He is not scrambling to fix a story that went sideways.
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  He is sovereignly, intentionally, purposefully
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  working in all of it. That doesn't make hard things
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  easy, but it does mean they're not meaningless.
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  Psalm 55, verse 23. Add something deeply personal to
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  that truth. Cast your burden on the Lord,
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  and He will sustain you. He will never permit the
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  righteous to be moved. The word cast is active.
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  It's deliberate. It's not a passive hope that
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  maybe God will notice your burden.
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  It's an intentional handing over.
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  You pick up what's weighing you down and you throw it on to him.
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  And the promise is that he will sustain you.
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  He will hold you up. He will not let you be
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  permanently shaken. This is such a relevant word for
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  where a lot of young people find themselves anxious about the
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  future, exhausted by pressures that never seem to let up,
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  hurting over things they don't have words for.
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  God is saying you don't have to carry that alone, give it to me
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  and I will keep you standing. Then Second Corinthians chapter
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  5, verse 18 unfolds your calling in the most beautiful way.
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  All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to
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  Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
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  You have been given a ministry, a purpose, not just a general
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  sense of meaning, but a specific calling to be someone who brings
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  God's love and restoration into broken spaces.
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  Your school, your home, your friend group, your community.
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  These are your mission field. Think about what that means
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  practically. The friend who's going through
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  something hard and needs someone to just show up.
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  The classmate who feels like an outsider.
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  The family member who's been difficult to love lately.
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  Those are not inconveniences in your story.
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  There are opportunities to live out the very reason God placed
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  you where you are. And here's the thing about your
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  struggles. They don't disqualify you from
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  that mission. They actually prepare you for
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  it. Because the people around you
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  don't need someone who has it all together.
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  They need someone who has walked through hard things and still
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  chose to trust God. Someone who can say, I've been
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  there and here's what got me through.
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  Your life has meaning. Your pain has purpose, and God
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  wants to use both to make a difference in the world around
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  you. Let's pray.
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  Heavenly Father, thank you for the reminder that nothing in my
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  life is wasted, Not the good parts and not the hard parts.
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  Help me to cast my burdens onto You instead of carrying them
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  alone, and to trust that You are sustaining me even when I can't
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  feel it. Show me how to walk in the
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  calling You've given me, to be a messenger of Your love and
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  reconciliation in every space I occupy.
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  Use my life, all of it for your purpose, in Jesus name, Amen.
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  What if the battles hitting your family are not random and your
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  home can become a place where darkness loses every right to
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  stay? The Secured Home is a powerful
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  six book prayer series for believers who want to guard
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  their households with biblical authority, peace, and confidence
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  in Jesus Christ. Book 1, Guarded Thresholds,
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  fortifies every doorway, room, and entry point with prayerful
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  protection. Book 2, Cleansed Rooms, helps
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  reclaim spaces marked by fear, unrest, and spiritual
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  defilement. Book 3, Closed Breaches, exposes
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  hidden access points and severs every agreement with darkness.
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  Book 4, Broken Assignments, confronts oppression, torment,
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  and attacks against your family. Book 5, Consecrated Walls,
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  dedicates every space and rhythm of the home to God.
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  Book 6, Abiding Peace, shows how to maintain spiritual order,
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  rest, and holy presence every day.
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  Order now on Amazon or visit prayerscripts.org.
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  Now I invite you to spend time with God in today's three-year
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  Bible reading plan. Proverbs Chapter 16 Verse 4
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  World English Bible Yahweh has made everything for its own end,
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  yes, even the wicked for the day of evil.
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  Psalm Chapter 55 World English Bible Listen to my prayer God,
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  don't hide yourself from my supplication.
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  Attend to me and answer me. I am restless in my complaint
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  and moan because of the voice of the enemy, because of the
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  oppression of the wicked, for they bring suffering on me in
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  anger. They hold a grudge against me.
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  My heart is severely pained within me.
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  The terrors of death have fallen on me.
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  Fearfulness and trembling have come on me.
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  Horror has overwhelmed me. I said, Oh, that I had wings
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  like a dove. Then I would fly away and be at
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  rest. Behold, then I would wander far
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  off. I would lodge in the wilderness.
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  I would hurry to a shelter from the stormy wind and storm.
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  Confuse them, Lord, and confound their language, for I have seen
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  violence and strife in the city. Day and night they prowl around
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  on its walls. Malice and abuse are also within
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  her. Destructive forces are within
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  her. Threats and lies don't depart
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  from her streets. For it was not an enemy who
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  insulted me then I could have endured it.
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  Neither was it he who hated me, who raised himself up against
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  me. Then I would have hidden myself
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  from him. But it was you, a man like me,
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  my companion and my familiar friend.
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  We took sweet fellowship together.
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  We walked in God's house with company.
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  Let death come suddenly on them. Let them go down alive into
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  Sheol, for wickedness is among them in their dwelling.
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  As for me, I will call on God. Yahweh will save me evening,
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  morning, and at noon. I will cry out in distress.
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  He will hear my voice. He has redeemed my soul in peace
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  from the battle that was against me.
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  Although there are many who oppose me, God who is enthroned
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  forever will hear and answer them.
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  They never change who don't fear God.
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  He raises his hands against his friends.
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  He has violated his covenant. His mouth was smooth as butter,
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  but his heart was war. His words were softer than oil,
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  yet they were drawn swords. Cast your burden on Yahweh, and
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  He will sustain you. He will never allow the
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  righteous to be moved, but you. God will bring them down into
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  the pit of destruction. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men
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  shall not live out half their days.
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  But I will trust in you. Second Corinthians Chapter 5
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  World English Bible. For we know that if the earthly
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  House of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a
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  house not made with hands eternal in the heavens.
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  For most certainly in this we groan, longing to be clothed
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  with our habitation, which is from heaven, if indeed being
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  clothed, we will not be found naked.
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  For indeed we who are in this tent do groan, being burdened,
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  not that we desire to be unclothed, but that we desire to
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  be clothed, that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
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  Now he who made us for this very thing is God, who also gave to
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  us the down payment of the Spirit.
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  Therefore we are always confident and know that while we
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  are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.
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  For we walk by faith, not by sight.
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  We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent
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  from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.
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  Therefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent,
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  to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all be revealed
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  before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may
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  receive the things in the body according to what he has done,
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  whether good or bad. Knowing therefore the fear of
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  the Lord, we persuade men, but we are revealed to God.
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  And I hope that we are revealed also in your consciences.
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  For we are not commending ourselves to you again, but
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  speak as giving you occasion of boasting on our behalf, that you
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  may have something to answer those who boast in appearance
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  and not in heart. For if we are beside ourselves,
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  it is for God, or if we are of sober mind, it is for you.
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  For the love of Christ constrains us, because we judge
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  thus that one died for all. Therefore all died.
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  He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to
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  themselves, but to Him who for their sakes died and rose again.
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  Therefore we know no one after the flesh from now on.
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  Even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know
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  Him, so no more. Therefore, if anyone is in
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  Christ, He is a new creation. The old things have passed away.
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  Behold, all things have become new, but all things are of God,
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  who reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and gave
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  to us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God
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  was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not reckoning
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  to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word
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  of reconciliation. We are therefore ambassadors on
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  behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us.
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  We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God for him who
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  knew no sin, He made to be sin on our behalf, so that in him we
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  might become the righteousness of God.
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  Thanks. For joining us on Bible Chat,
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  where Scripture meets everyday life, if today's devotional
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  encouraged you. Share it.
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  With a friend and be sure to follow the podcast so you won't
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  miss the next conversation. Until next time, stay rooted in
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  truth, anchored in hope, and walking daily.
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  With Jesus.